I have a kindle. And I wouldn't trade it in for anything. My husband bought it for me 2 years ago for my birthday. I have read more books in the last 2 years then I have in the last 20 years. When he bought mine, it was $249. Mine has Whispernet to download books which means, I can get books anywhere that I am.
The ones they have now for $79 comes with Wi-Fi and has advertisements when the book is "sleeping" we got my husband one of these and he doesn't mind them at all. The only drawback he says is that he can only download books onto it when he is around Wi-fi.
The kindle you are able to change the size of the font which is pretty cool if your visually impaired like me. You can also make the kindle "read" to you in either a man or a womans voice. I have even downloaded a few games. :)
But I think you will enjoy reading a kindle. :)

You can go to Amazon and watch a video on all the different models. I've been thinking about it, too. I don't read books as often as I used to - I do lots and lots of audio books as they are great while you are in the car or at the sewing machine. Two things I do a lot. :)

my DSIL works at Barnes and Noble and sells the Nook. He tells me that the Nook color is better than the other readers. And i was talking to an ebook editor and she tells me that magazines, such as quilting mags, are not much good without a color reader. i don't have one, but wanted to put some thoughts out there.

The color Kindles and Nooks are all fine, but my boss got the Nook color and has now picked up a regular Nook with the E-ink technology because the color backlit screens do not show up well outside.

I wouldn't buy a quilt book for a Kindle or Nook anyway since I wouldn't want to have to look at it on a screen while sitting at my sewing machine and what if there are templates, you can't print from a Kindle or Nook.

I would suggest getting the 3G version no matter what, because I absolutely hate having to find a Wifi signal if I'm not home and want to access online content. I'll sacrifice color for 3G any day.

I will probably upgrade to the newer version of Kindle 3G and E-ink technology when they come out.